It is not so much the inclusion of the reveal that is off-putting, but rather its framing. In Logan-Ashley Kisner's essay "A Timeline of Transgender Horror," he posits that "gender is nearly always the twist, the last-minute shocker meant to solidify the film in your mind." While this quote referred to films, it still applies to how the audience finds out that Drew is trans when he takes off his shirt in the bathroom.
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The placement of this twist to be at the end of the pilot seems particularly strange in retrospect.
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While initially seeming paper-thin, the show subverted expectations by having almost every main character have a backstory that gives them depth, motivation, and personality. A mid-season twist also revealed that the cocky rich boy Alex Powell ( Ronen Rubenstein) was a Russian immigrant who experienced Cold War-fueled xenophobia in his youth. Best friends Cricket Diaz ( Amber Coney) and Blair Ramos ( Mark Indelicato) are Latinx, with their heritages are essential to their characters but not defining them. The show's Black counselors, photographer Joel Goodson ( Eli Goree four years before his critically lauded turn as Muhammed Ali in One Night in Miami.), and reforming mean girl Jessie Tyler ( Paulina Singer) are given important storylines that flesh their characters out that steer away from becoming traumatic. For starters, it is surprisingly inclusive when considering the mainly white casts of slashers the show was inspired by. While it sounds like archetypal, run-of-the-mill horror schlock (and in many ways, it was), the show still took risks that few shows or movies have followed up on today regarding its casting. The show was set in 1989 and centered around the misfit counselors of Camp Stillwater.
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So, if I don't care for it, why am I gunning for it to receive a second chance? The answer is simple: It managed to be ahead of its time in several ways. It was poorly-paced, had problematic casting that barely flew in 2016, and seemed to have an identity crisis about what it wanted to be. Let me explain something really quick, though: Dead of Summer is not a good show.
#GAY MOVIES TO WATCH ON FREEFORM TV#
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